Greg and Chloe Visit to Auschwitz
2012 Visit To Auschwitz
In September of this year we were fortunate enough to be selected from our Higher History class to take part in a visit to Auschwitz concentration camp, Poland. Upon arriving at the camp we did not know what to expect. Perhaps a dull gloomy atmosphere which would feel uncomfortable to be a part of. However when we arrived at the front entrance of Auschwitz 1 it was very different from what we had thought it would be. There were dozens of coaches and hundreds of tourists similar to ourselves waiting outside the camp and it all felt very surreal. When walking up to the infamous gates of Auschwitz 1 which read “Arbeit Mach Frei” – “work sets you free” - the atmosphere changed. You could feel the tension surrounding the place as you walked through the exact same gates that the thousands of unfortunate Jewish prisoners had also entered. We were shown around the camp by our tour guide who had a vast knowledge of the Holocaust. We were shown the barracks in which they lived, the cells they were kept in for punishment, washrooms and finally the gas chambers. When our tour of Auschwitz 1 was complete we had a short five minute drive to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The entrance to Birkenau made the whole trip feel real, as this was the famous entrance seen in movies such as “Schindler’s List”. The first thing that really hits you about Birkenau is the size of the place. You can just see vast amounts of land and barracks for miles. Within Birkenau we were shown around the barracks and the gas chambers. The tour guide then took us into the registration building in which there was a display of hundreds and hundreds of pictures of victims and their families. This made everyone realise that those who were killed, weren’t just names on a list but individuals, just like ourselves, who were massacred simply because of their religion. Before the trip came to an end there was a short service with a Jewish rabbi. He spoke about how his race was almost destroyed and then went on to sing a song in Hebrew which had many of the group in tears as even though no one knew what he was singing you could fell the pain in his voice as he remembered his people. We were extremely grateful to be picked for the trip and we feel it is an experience that will stay with us our whole lives.
Greig Robertson 6M & Chloe Kinloch 6A.